Biography

British plant ecologist from London who trained at Cambridge University. He was employed as a lecturer at University College, London (1893-1906) before becoming a lecturer in Botany at Cambridge University (1906-1923) and later appointed Sherardian professor of botany at Oxford University (1927-1937). He was founder of New Phytologist, editor of the journal (1902-1931) and editor of Journal of Ecology (1917-1937). He was also elected the first President of the British Ecological Society (1913) and was appointed the first chairman of the Nature Conservancy (1949-1953). For his landmark book on The British Islands and their Vegetation, he was awarded the gold medal of the Linnean Society. Sir Arthur Tansley was knighted in 1950.